


[ART] This is How We Scorch The Earth

by DYlogger



Series: TOG Superhero AU [2]
Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Art, Artist Commentary, Canon Queer Relationship, Canon-Typical Violence, Fanart, Identity Porn, M/M, Secret Identity, The Old Guard Big Bang 2021, character design
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-17 00:01:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29341008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DYlogger/pseuds/DYlogger
Summary: Nicky always knew his crush on fellow superhero Joe Al-Kaysani, aka Solar Flare, would never come to anything. His identity was a closely guarded secret while Joe's was the exact opposite. That wasn't going to change, no matter how much he secretly wished it could.But then his best friend Quynh sets him up on a blind date...with Joe. Suddenly, on top of a game of dating and hidden identities, Nicky has to deal with an influx of weapons into the community and some odd occurences at his day job.Life is never dull when operating as a semi-illegal vigilante.Art & commentary for the Old Guard Big Bang 2021.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Series: TOG Superhero AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2160135
Comments: 12
Kudos: 84





	1. Finished Work

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [This Is How We Scorch The Earth](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29306478) by [ModernMutiny](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ModernMutiny/pseuds/ModernMutiny). 



> Mild spoilers ahead. :)

Cover Art

*

_Nicky shook his head. With such an opportunity dangled in front of him, there was no way he was letting it slip away. “Take me flying, Joe.”_

*

_The Bronze Basher was always a fan favourite of the three, though, with his bright smiles and ever-present laughter. He always seemed to be having the time of his life, whenever he went out to fight. He was the one that convinced people to trust them, not to be afraid of their powers. If someone as happy and light and bubbly as him was on board with the sudden appearance of superheroes overnight, then it made it all a little easier to swallow._

*

_Soon, the ground was littered with dead and unconscious guards, the temperature of the room fluctuating wildly as both Joe and Quynh’s attacks petered out._

*

Main Divider

*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next: artist's commentary! Optional to read, but fun if you're into that kind of thing. :D
> 
> [art/fic masterpost on Tumblr](https://oldguardbigbang2021.tumblr.com/post/643036386242527232/) | [the fic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29306478)  
> [my Tumblr](https://dylogger.tumblr.com/) | [author's tumblr](https://modernmutiny.tumblr.com/)


	2. Artist's Commentary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I talk about the thoughts and process behind the artwork!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I might have gone ham. I HAD THINGS TO SAY AND I SAID THEM.

I picked up _This is How We Scorch the Earth_ when in the big bang claims listing, Teddy (ModernMutiny, the author) tagged the fic as "Spideytorch AU" and I'm a huge sucker for classical superheroes. Colourful costumes and colourful personalities! Character intrigue in the context of action heroes! A vibe that matches my art style! Identity porn! How could I _not?_

(0) (1) 

Let's talk about this flying piece. This is the first scene I drew, and it came to be after Teddy and I were chatting after he sent me his outline. The conversation went something like this (editorialised by me for humour):

> **Dee:** any preferences for what you want me to draw?
> 
> **Teddy:** I'll be happy with anything!
> 
> **Dee:** hmm, I'll make some thumbnails (1) but most of these are cover scenes because it's hard for me to visualise scenes based on events with no actions or settings
> 
> **Teddy:** oh
> 
> **Teddy:** so there's this flying scene halfway through the fic that I haven't started on, but it's cute and clearly set and you can pick the weather
> 
> **Dee:** I'M IN; HELL YEAH

Oh man, am I in love with how Teddy writes these guys, and how affectionate they are with each other/ In this scene, Joe is taking Nicky flying out for the first time, not including the times that Joe has unknowingly taken Nicky's alter-ego out flying. (I mean, Joe _knows_ that Nicky is Angel, but Nicky doesn't know that Joe knows and AAAAAGH, the delicious delicious dramatic irony.)

For the life of me, I could not figure out how to draw a person with fire powers, which is why the fire styling is all over the place. Solar Flare has the same superpowers as Johnny Storm (above), whose fire is drawn in a number of ways, but Joe doesn't go supernova like Johnny does so I struggled to find a way to draw his powers. I ended up using a fire brush on top of some orange sunset-and-fire lighting, but using texture brushes to create major shapes is generally not my top choice of solution. Trying something new was nice, though. :D

Also, man, the disconnect between a scene where two people realistically having a conversation and _setting_ the scene in one image such that the characters are still facing each other but you can _also_ see both faces.

(x) 

(Pictured: an alternative.)

(0) (1) (2) (3) 

The first cover thumbnails came from the claims summary, before most of the fic was written. I offered two options for ensemble movie poster type covers (1A, 1B) and one for a lineless graphic cover (1C), but by the time I got around to actually drawing the cover, more of the fic had been written and I thought something sweet and romance-focused was more fitting. I had a pile of movie/book inspiration images laying around, but I LOST THE ENTIRE FOLDER. *cries* The short explanation is that this cover gives off the vibe of a contemporary character-centric story now.

This is where Nicky's accent colour changed from gold-with-purple-rims (detailed further below) to blue-with-gold-rims. It meshes so nicely against Joe's sweater without blending in!

(x)

Also pictured in (1) is how I initially thought I was going to draw the divider, but I thought it would be cute to wrap the flames up in the halo. (I talk later about how I chose to use a gold circle in illustrations, which is a meta rendering decision and not what the halo looks like all the time.)

(0) 

Boy, this image was a rewarding challenge! This image takes place at a lull during an action-packed asskicking scene, and my goals were to show off everyone's outfits and to inject some drama into an otherwise warm moment. And I'm no Caravaggio, but I think I still got some drama out of that window. 😎

It didn't occur to me until I was drawing this Here are a couple of my favourite things about this image:

  * Quynh's ice cape, whose rendering I am super proud of!
  * After the flying scene, I think I got a better grasp on how to use fire textures. I think they make for a good note context to the post-battle setting.
  * The bloody handprint on Nicky's leg.
  * I fully gave up on detailing the bodies, but they still read as... at least litter, probably bodies. ;)
  * Frostburn on the walls.
  * Char and impact marks on... well, all the surfaces.
  * Nicky and Joe holding hands!



It seems like now is the appropriate time to talk character design, which I was super pleased about because I live for this stuff. :D

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) 

JOE AND NICKY. **Solar Flare and Angel**. Heroes and lovers. Oh, how I love the two of them together. :D

Of all the characters, Angel's outfit is the most classically superhero-esque; everyone else wears Real Clothes while Nicky wears a bodysuit made of an unidentified fabric. It's also the only design not at all inspired by any existing properties. Instead, I've littered in angel motifs where I could. Teddy describes Nicky's halos as light rings (👼), but I chose to render them like the halos seen in illuminated manuscripts (2). The v-stripe down his chest represents wings.

Nicky's outfit has also gone through the most changes over the course of the bang. We swapped out his winged mask (3) for a face mask because Joe recognises Nicky as Angel through his eyes (which is _super romantic_ holy shit???). Extending from his mask are those things that go up the side of the face and wrap around the back of the head. Lots of superhero characters have them, and I have no idea what they're called (4). ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ His accent colour used to be gold instead of blue -- partly also hijacked from the unnecessary amounts of gold they used in illuminated manuscripts, and partly because I thought it would be cool for Joe and Nicky to share a colour. (It didn't stick; a constrasting blue worked way better when I sat down to do the cover.)

I'm really pleased with Nicky's design evolution, because it went from something more overtly literal symbols something more deconstructed where the motifs are there, but only if you care about their presence. Otherwise, you just get a cool outfit. 😎

Joe's whole schtick is that he's a regular joe (ha) who does really great things and happens to have superpowers. Solar Flare doesn't wear a costume made out of leather or spandex; instead he wears a soft, approachable sweater with cargo pants whose purpose is function first. His colours are comforting and earthy, if the earthy tones were set ablaze in an inferno of heat. I really loved the colour blocking in all the outfits from the CW's _Black Lightning_ (5), and it inspired Joe's softer, _actually wearable_ version. (Reportedly it takes several hours to get this actress into her suit, which is nuts and not at all functional lmao.)

Also, Joe's curls look like little flames sometimes! Does it _really_ look like little flames in action? That's up to imagination, but the flames are at _least_ an artist's rendering.

(1) (2) 

(3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) 

Andy and Nile, combat fighters that rely on their bodies, are both decked out in leather, while Booker and Quynh, fighters that rely on their powers, are dressed in, uh, other stuff.

 **The Scythian** is inspired by Jim Lee's 2010 Wonder Woman design (3), which I thought was a bad fit for Wonder Woman but is otherwise cool inspiration for a character like Andy! She punches stuff, she canonically has arm bracers, and she looks badass in a leather jacket. 

**Copycat** is inspired by Babs Tarr's 2014 Batgirl of Burnside design. It's youthful, quirky, and kicks ass -- just like Nile! Leather is a practical, protective material, and I think it makes sense to put two different characters in leathers that happen to give off different vibes.

 **Penance** is inspired by Dickens' _A Christmas Carol_. The Ghost of Christmas Future (3) is usually a Grim Reaper looking dude who symbolises regret, Jacob Marley (4) is usually a dude in chains who symbolises mourning, and what is Booker but regret and mourning? The lock on his chains also lost the keyhole over development, which is just a touch more depressing. 😎

 **Tide** is, uh, not inspired by _Frozen's_ Elsa (7). Not really. Originally, I was going to have her wear an ao dai (8), but, like, who the fuck is wearing expensive courtly silk out to fight criminals? Certainly not anyone with sense. I drew a general long dress shape with a translucent cape and crisp boning. But then, Teddy wrote the scene, the ice cape showed up, and from there it just made sense to add in little reflects into the bodice and skirt -- kind of like the piercing sun against some rolling ocean waves. (I fucking love the ice cape.)

None of these designs started with colours, but by the time I got around to drawing the big group shot at the end two weeks before the bang ended, I had gotten a sense of what vibes everyone had, and LOOK, ALMOST A RAINBOW.

(Unofficial insignias, since I came up with these super last minute with no author input and no separate process so I could have a divider for this commentary post.)

((Lykon's would have been orange, after the way he was colour-coded in the movie canon, and magnetism-themed after his powers.))

(0) (1) 

Finally, my favourite piece in this whole collection is this Lykon memorial plaque.

This piece is my favourite because Teddy and I spent some active time thinking about it and collaborating over it. I felt like the art collection was missing a _raison d'être_ to give all the illustrations some more depth, so I pitched it to him once I knew I would have time for it. Lykon's presence brings a layer of context to the Old Guard's history and actions, so I thought it was important.

When I sketched out the piece, the ending had either not been written or I hadn't read it yet. Somehow, I mistakenly got the impression that Lykon would have a big protective shield. (Ah, the pitfalls of parallel collaboration; yet without it, the art wouldn't have been able to fit as neatly into the fic!) We ended up with the following motifs:

  * Bronze Basher's goggles
  * Power fist: this fic doesn't go into it, but I have Official Author Confirmation (😎) that Lykon being a young Black man who died is culturally relevant to the setting. This may be detailed more in a sequel. (!)
  * Bouquet with an orange ribbon that matches the Bronze Basher's colour scheme
  * Quote on the plaque modified from Toni Morrison, a Black American writer: _"The_ _function of freedom is to free others."_ _  
  
_
  * No shield, as seen in the initial sketch (1), because apparently Lykon was a spry bubbly dude. Teddy described him as comparable to Marvel's Miles Morales, in that Lykon becomes a superhero beside Quandy, a pair of grizzled veterans, while retaining a happy, earnest personality.
  * Further to the no shield thing: Quynh probably tried to get him to carry one, but Lykon was just like "HAHA NOPE; I'M A TEENAGER WITH SUPERPOWERS." (My paraphrasing.)



Two months and a bit later, we're here! Before I conclude, here are a couple of thank-yous:

  * Teddy, for writing a fantastic story, being patient with me through the second half of December/first half of January, and being a great collaborator in general;
  * Nixy and Selena, for listening to me flail about time management and other things;
  * Various TOG friends on Discord, for providing good company;
  * Svalonarz, for the context-free stress hugs;
  * Lastly, the Old Guard Big Bang 2021 mods, for making this bang exist!



Cheers! :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you got through that entire ramble, I tip my hat to you. If you haven't read the fic, please do so and give the fic some love! It's really sweet, a lot of hard work was put into it, and I love the writing. :D

**Author's Note:**

> [art/fic masterpost on Tumblr](https://oldguardbigbang2021.tumblr.com/post/643036386242527232/) | [the fic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29306478)  
> [my Tumblr](https://dylogger.tumblr.com/) | [author's tumblr](https://modernmutiny.tumblr.com/)


End file.
